Rate the 2017 Tour de France

[Jancouver]

Rate the 2017 Tour de France

 

[kingjr]

Better than 2014

 

[jsem94]

Voted but it says "No vote", not sure what's going on.

A 4 from me. Crappy route but some of the stages did deliver, much thanks to a few riders who absolutely lit up the race. The GC battle being close helped too, thankfully Froome didn't run away with things.

 

[Valv.Piti]

3. I think I rated last year's race 2 and I still think this race was a bit better.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I rate it a 4.

Like in.. nice try, but no. Please no. It wasn't completely terrible, but neither was it any good.

 

[Arnout]

Re:

Better than 2014

2014 had good battles for stage wins. This one mostly didn't. Voted 1-2. I don't remember a worse TdF. French TV showed a highlight reel after today's stage and the biggest highlight of the GC battle was Froome missing a corner. No attacks, no surprise, no creativity, nothing. Bunch sprints were quite boring too. None of the flat stages was interesting in any other way (though I missed the EBH win), even the crosswind stage was a lot less exciting than usual. Only one or two medium mountain stages, but with no action to speak of (though Calmejanes and Mollema's victory were nice). The only real highlight was Barguil winning on the Izoard with an actual attack.

 

[Ruby United]

As a cycling fan (as opposed to a Sky fan):
A 4 from me.

Primarily because of Landa's antics and those few days where Aru took the Jersey off Froome then the crazy stage that ensued and then Froome gaining it back and the fact that by stage 16 no-one was certain of victory.

Route was horrible, competition was horrible, many top riders crashed/dsq'd out, etc....

Oh yeah, did I mention the route was horrible? Like, truly horrible.

 

[Ruby United]

Who gave it an 8?
Own up!

 

[Melo]

4. The most memorable things that happened this Tour were the crashes, the Sagan DQ & the finish btw EBH and Kittel. Maybe next year they will choose a better route... this one was horrendous.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Who gave it an 8?
Own up!

Probably Tonton

 

[silvergrenade]

Gave it a 5..
Was okay..
Bad bad route.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

Better than 2014

2014 had good battles for stage wins. This one mostly didn't. Voted 1-2. I don't remember a worse TdF. French TV showed a highlight reel after today's stage and the biggest highlight of the GC battle was Froome missing a corner. No attacks, no surprise, no creativity, nothing. Bunch sprints were quite boring too. None of the flat stages was interesting in any other way (though I missed the EBH win), even the crosswind stage was a lot less exciting than usual. Only one or two medium mountain stages, but with no action to speak of (though Calmejanes and Mollema's victory were nice). The only real highlight was Barguil winning on the Izoard with an actual attack.

No matter, the battle for GC was the most boring I have ever seen in any GT, and I can take more than most in terms of boredom. At least Armstrong lost a TT to Botero in 2002.

 

[Pricey_sky]

5 from me. Couldn't really ask for much more from this route.

 

[Lupi33x]

I gave it a 6
its still the TDF, not one of the better ones, but still the TDF

 

[capuldemetal]

give it a 2.snorefest all the way.and i halved the blame between a crappy route and the peloton.cowards.too much respect ftw! #dumppoliticalcorectness

 

[Arnout]

Re: Re:

Better than 2014

2014 had good battles for stage wins. This one mostly didn't. Voted 1-2. I don't remember a worse TdF. French TV showed a highlight reel after today's stage and the biggest highlight of the GC battle was Froome missing a corner. No attacks, no surprise, no creativity, nothing. Bunch sprints were quite boring too. None of the flat stages was interesting in any other way (though I missed the EBH win), even the crosswind stage was a lot less exciting than usual. Only one or two medium mountain stages, but with no action to speak of (though Calmejanes and Mollema's victory were nice). The only real highlight was Barguil winning on the Izoard with an actual attack.

No matter, the battle for GC was the most boring I have ever seen in any GT, and I can take more than most in terms of boredom. At least Armstrong lost a TT to Botero in 2002.

One second of the cobbles stage in that Tour was more exciting and spectacular than three weeks of GC "battle" in this Tour.

I don't mind riders winning with a big margin, that much - I prefer an exciting battle for 1st but if someone is the strongest by a margin so be it (clinic excluded). The frustration of a close GC battle on paper, even though in reality it was always with Froome due to the TT and his team, and noone trying anything before the last 3km makes the GC a lot worse than just neutral, as it was in 2014.

 

[DFA123]

Went for a 2, which I thought was a touch generous.

Just an awful race all round. Way too many crashes and DQs of top riders, a rubbish route with too many predictable sprints and pointless descent/flat finishes. Other attacking riders like Quintana and Contador not showing up with any kind of form. Boring GC battle (being close time wise =/= interesting). Too easy mountain stages, and the ones that had potential were either marred by crashes or lacked attacks. Lack of an interesting break most days.

Plus points were Barguil and Matthews livening things up, and the UCI having the balls to stand up to Sagan and his influential backers. Oh, and Brailsford's meltdown at the hands of Cycling News.

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Somewhere between 6 and 7, voted for 7 in the end. Good GC contest, fantastic sprints, a lot of French stage wins, Warren Barguil.

 

[Lupi33x]

I must admit, 5 of my 6 points were for the scenery :lol:

 

[trucido]

Re:

Went for a 2, which I thought was a touch generous.

Just an awful race all round. Way too many crashes and DQs of top riders, a rubbish route with too many predictable sprints and pointless descent/flat finishes. Other attacking riders like Quintana and Contador not showing up with any kind of form. Boring GC battle (being close time wise =/= interesting). Too easy mountain stages, and the ones that had potential were either marred by crashes or lacked attacks. Lack of an interesting break most days.

Plus points were Barguil and Matthews livening things up, and the UCI having the balls to stand up to Sagan and his influential backers. Oh, and Brailsford's meltdown at the hands of Cycling News.

Easy when the affected party is one of the TdF sponsors, and you deny the offender the opportunity to even present his side of the argument.

 

[kingjr]

Re: Re:

Better than 2014

2014 had good battles for stage wins. This one mostly didn't. Voted 1-2. I don't remember a worse TdF. French TV showed a highlight reel after today's stage and the biggest highlight of the GC battle was Froome missing a corner. No attacks, no surprise, no creativity, nothing. Bunch sprints were quite boring too. None of the flat stages was interesting in any other way (though I missed the EBH win), even the crosswind stage was a lot less exciting than usual. Only one or two medium mountain stages, but with no action to speak of (though Calmejanes and Mollema's victory were nice). The only real highlight was Barguil winning on the Izoard with an actual attack.

No matter, the battle for GC was the most boring I have ever seen in any GT, and I can take more than most in terms of boredom. At least Armstrong lost a TT to Botero in 2002.

One second of the cobbles stage in that Tour was more exciting and spectacular than three weeks of GC "battle" in this Tour.

I don't mind riders winning with a big margin, that much - I prefer an exciting battle for 1st but if someone is the strongest by a margin so be it (clinic excluded). The frustration of a close GC battle on paper, even though in reality it was always with Froome due to the TT and his team, and noone trying anything before the last 3km makes the GC a lot worse than just neutral, as it was in 2014.

I should add that my opinion is influenced by the fact that I find Nibali an absurdly dull character. I look at him and feel nothing.

 

[Arnout]

Re: Re:

Better than 2014

2014 had good battles for stage wins. This one mostly didn't. Voted 1-2. I don't remember a worse TdF. French TV showed a highlight reel after today's stage and the biggest highlight of the GC battle was Froome missing a corner. No attacks, no surprise, no creativity, nothing. Bunch sprints were quite boring too. None of the flat stages was interesting in any other way (though I missed the EBH win), even the crosswind stage was a lot less exciting than usual. Only one or two medium mountain stages, but with no action to speak of (though Calmejanes and Mollema's victory were nice). The only real highlight was Barguil winning on the Izoard with an actual attack.

No matter, the battle for GC was the most boring I have ever seen in any GT, and I can take more than most in terms of boredom. At least Armstrong lost a TT to Botero in 2002.

One second of the cobbles stage in that Tour was more exciting and spectacular than three weeks of GC "battle" in this Tour.

I don't mind riders winning with a big margin, that much - I prefer an exciting battle for 1st but if someone is the strongest by a margin so be it (clinic excluded). The frustration of a close GC battle on paper, even though in reality it was always with Froome due to the TT and his team, and noone trying anything before the last 3km makes the GC a lot worse than just neutral, as it was in 2014.

I should add that my opinion is influenced by the fact that I find Nibali an absurdly dull character. I look at him and feel nothing.

That's personal I guess - I'm not part of his fan club but I love his opportunism, something that was sorely lacked during this TdF. If Nibali (and Contador, and Quintana, to an extent - their Foix effort was more desperation than anything else) was a contender here, I'm sure my vote would've been higer due to some gutsy attacks.

 

[Sestriere]

I gave it a 5.

On the one hand we saw some very entertaining stages like Chambéry, Sation des Rousses, Foix. There were some standout riders/performances that will be remembered, for example Barguil riding away from the favourites on the Izoard, Matthews batteling for points (Team Sunweb in general really), Calmejane holding on despite cramping, Roglic winning the queen stage or Contador's never say die attitude. Also, the GC battle stayed tight till the end and you had the feeling that Froome wasn't invincible.
On the other hand the GC battle was limited very early on by the losses of Porte and Valverde, a bit later also Fuglsang. The race would have been better with them, no doubt. The remaining GC contenders unfortunately lacked strenght and/or panache to really endanger Sky, and so, although it stayed close until the very end, nothing made me walk up and down my room. In addition to the uninspiring GC riders the amount of flat stages made for days of boredom and solo brakes framing a giant tourism advertisment campaign. Fortunately, I couldn't watch many of them.

To sum it up, it was better than last year, but better competition and better routes make for better races, so bring on la Vuelta

 

[jsem94]

Lmao who gave this a 9

 

[Tonton]

I give it a 4.

Pluses:
- Close GC until the ITT.
- The riders made the best of a terrible design.
- Barguill, Calmejane, Bardet, Demare: great Tour for the French. Always nice.

Minuses:
- Froome was beatable, but no one dared to risk it all.
- Two weeks worth nothing, one week of "action". The TdF bore-fest tradition continues. Anyone who rated the -
Route 8 when it was made public should be sentenced to ride his bike without a saddle for one hundred miles.
- Incompetent officials. As always.
- TV commentators, broadcast in general: mediocre at best.
- The Sagan fans whining was annoying.